Road Games (Football)

Well, the time is fast approaching for purchasing season tickets. I realized very quickly last year that getting tickets to road games will probably never be easier for the rest of my life, and as such took it upon myself to buy a ticket to the MSU game for this year.

MSU is all I was interested in last year because it was the only one both close enough and important enough for me to part way with my scant cash for. This next year, however, there are several, and I would like to make these more fun by getting some of my non-student friends involved.

So I would like to pose a question to students, former or current, who have experience buying the road game tickets around the time the students order season tickets:

Do any of Penn State, Notre Dame, or Ohio State, restrict their visitor tickets in any way that would make someone other than the original purchaser able to use them? I know from this year that MSU does not, but before I take money from my friends and family to send student friends down to the ticket office and be my middle man, I would like to know for certain that I will not end up with a ticket only good for the student who bought it and has no interest in going.

EDIT: It seems that I didn't do a well enough job explaining this. I'm planning to buy these through the University's away allotment, NOT by getting them from random people from the other school. So needing a student ID for, say, a ND student isn't the issue, its more or less whether they put your name on the ticket when UM sends the orders in and make you show a driver's license to prove you're the original purchaser.

Of those three, OSU and ND are the more important. My odds of being able to go to PSU, much less get people to go with me, are minimal, but not impossible. Ohio State and Notre Dame are prime targets, however, and any word from someone who's purchased student road tickets to go to these places before, preferably recently, would be fantastic. As much as I doubt that they are restricted, the ticket office only lets you buy one ticket and they take all your info, so I want to be ABSOLUTELY SURE, because those would be one expensive mistake on my part...

Also, in case you're a student reading this thread and wondering what I'm talking about in the first place, there is generally a part of an FAQ about football tickets updated when they release the application that tells you the days that you can sign up to buy a road ticket. They don't advertise it, and so you must actively look for this information. At the time they state, you have to physically go down to the ticket office (Next to Yost), fill out an application, and pay for any and all tickets. In the event of high demand, they do a drawing, and you get your money back if you aren't drawn. Now go get some money together so you can be part of the Michigan Road Show and support your team behind enemy lines.

Prelude was when the CTA Purple Line was practically commandeered by about 15,000 maize & blue clad alumni. Got started when Michigan put the game out of reach by halftime. Really heated up when Ryan Stadium reverberated with chants of "Beat the Buckeyes" as the victorious Victors left the field. Kept on going all night when the satisfied Michigan faithful spread out to launch a coordinated assault on one northside bar after another.

The 2003 game almost made up for the misery of being present at the 2001 instant classic where Jim Hermann proved what a defensive genius he wasn't and A-Train fumbled.

I dont have any specific info on ticketing but the Notre Dame game is great if you have some friends in Chicago (also good if you dont). There is a train from Chicago to South Bend (alcohol is allowed on the train) and there is a bus from the train station to the stadium. Its a pretty fun experience if you have some friends you could stay with in Chicago and make a weekend out of it.

Don't buy a student ticket anywhere unless it has a sticker that says "upgraded, additional fee paid" or something like that.

I scalped a faculty/staff ticket at ND two years ago. The small print said that faculty ID would be required. But they didn't check. It helped that the ticket wasn't originally discounted like student tickets are.

Advice for OSU: Don't scalp a ticket to sit with the students. Life's too short to put up with the treatment you'll get.

Notre Dame: Good place to see a game, but oddly kind of boring. Nobody will give you a hard time. Seeing UM play in South Bend should be on every wolverine's bucket list.

Penn State: Great experience. Rabid fans, but they were welcoming for the most part. Great campus bar scene. My second most-favorite Big Ten road trip.

Favorite Big Ten road trip: Wisconsin. But you'll have to wait until 2011.

Purdue and IU are both away games, and should be easy to get tickets. The Purdue fans are really obnoxious, but the IU fans are fun and they don't really give a shit about the game. Depending on cash flow, I might try to mix in South Bend and go for the trifecta.

I got away student tickets for OSU, PSU and Notre dame. I dont think there were any restrictions on any of them. I mean, how would the other schools know what a student ID for UofM looks like? That being said, you usually have to be pretty lucky to get all of those tickets in the pool. The easiest way is to get a group of students to all put in for the tickets together because if one number is pulled then everyone in the group gets tickets I beleive.

Does anybody know how I can sit it in the visitor's section for these road games? I'm not a student so would I need a student or alum to buy the tickets? I'm going to try to go to the game at Penn State this year. I hear they have one of the best student sections in the nation.

For ND student tickets, they check your ID both at the gate AND to get into the section. They don't check the picture, but it does matter that the name on the ticket matches the name on the ID and that the ID is a ND ID. So a student ticket for ND would be hard to get for a non-ND student unless you know someone who would be willing to let you borrow their ID. On the other hand, you can always buy a regular admission ticket on Ebay or stub hub or something. I'd let you use my student ticket and ID but...obviously I will be using it. I bought season tickets my 1L year and sold all of them except the Michigan game, didn't buy tickets last year, and will only go to the Michigan game this year.

I try to get to road games to Iowa City or Champaign-Urbana since both are about an 8 hour drive for me, living in Lawrence, KS. Easy to buy individual tickets for UM games at both schools. No package deals!

Went to EL this year, and the MSU fans actually weren't that rough at all. I was surprised -- it seemed like more of a family vs family thing. Their stadium is average and if it's not too nice out I highly recommend putting in a few extra bucks for a lower seat. You don't want to be stuck on that upper level when the wind is whipping or if there's even an ounce of moisture in the air...it sucks.

That said, I heard them heckle the bathroom setup at Michigan Stadium more than they heckled the actual team, and for the most part they seemed really reserved to make comments until after the game, where they kind of seemed like they didn't know what to do (except for the students, who went wild).

I had an awful experience at MSU last year. My friend and I are both 21 and we had some 40 year old asshole pouring water on us. We did nothing to even provoke this guy yet he found a need to pour water on us while it was raining. Then he had the audacity to deny it and scream into our ear the entire game. F*cking asshole.

MSU last year wasn't too bad and I was in the student neighborhoods friday night and tailgating before the game. That stadium a piece of crap though, no MSU fan should talk with how crappy their stadium is. The bathroom set up is terrible too. I think my away game for this year will be ND. Went there in 2004.

No, you're dedicated. If I only make one road game this year, that'll be it. Not only is it OSU, I've got a friend with loads of family living in Columbus, one of which IIRC teaches there. That means a riot-free place to park and stay while there.

Not necessarily. Most of my friends are OSU students, and while they will obviously give me shit on gameday, its all playful and I've never gotten anything thrown at/ spilled on me. It obviously helps a lot if you know people there though